The Eighth Moon: A Memoir of Belonging and Rebellion

An ailing writer moves from London to Margaretville in Upstate New York and encounters the village’s rich history in essayist Kabat’s pensive debut. At the heart of the account is an “uprising by poor tenant farmers” on Aug. 7, 1845, in which a group of masked rent-strikers fought to redistribute land and shot and killed the town’s undersheriff. Kabat reconstructs scenes from the event, draws parallels to today’s out of control housing costs, and reflects on the political implications of private property. Her narrative is as much about her research process as it is about the Anti-Rent War itself—Kabat traces her journey through the archives; outlines her experience making a home in Margaretville as she befriends locals; and issues abundant literary reflections on such writers as Elizabeth Hardwick and Adrienne Rich. While Kabat has her moments of lyricism (describing the rent-strikers, who wore billowing gowns and large leather masks for anonymity: “The men in dresses turn with a flourish, in a mockery of military maneuvers”), the real stars here are the strikers themselves, viciously decrying the systems that oppress them (one of their more gruesome marching tunes goes: “The violence sweeping around me now thickens / With killing off rent and landlords some of us quicken”). It’s an introspective investigation of the interplay between writing, history, and political action. (May)